


Traditions

by MugetsuPipefox



Series: Sea-Salt Family [8]
Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, Isa gets a job, PTSD, Roxas & Lea make bad choices, Sea Salt Ice Cream (Kingdom Hearts), Terra is my favourite himbo, girls night, not re:mind compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:28:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25972132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MugetsuPipefox/pseuds/MugetsuPipefox
Summary: Isa has a job interview, Xion hangs out with the Girls, and Lea and Roxas try to solve a problem by creating a different problem
Relationships: Aqua & Kairi & Naminé & Xion & Olette, Aqua & Terra & Ventus (Kingdom Hearts), Isa & Lea & Roxas & Xion (Kingdom Hearts)
Series: Sea-Salt Family [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1289027
Comments: 42
Kudos: 80
Collections: Sea-Salt Family Fics (KH)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi hello welcome to the next story in the thrilling series Let's Get These Kids Some Therapy, except still no one is getting therapy RIP
> 
> If you're new here, this is part of a series, but can probably be read standalone? Maybe? Just post kh3, not re:mind compliant sea-salt fam adjusting to living as people, this time with a side of Wayfinder in part 3 (because I love them)
> 
> This has 3 parts, and all are written, so if you're reading this and it's marked incomplete, just keep refreshing until the rest turns up?

Out of all the things he had to get used to now that he was piecing his life back together, Lea had not expected being on the other end of the morning rush to be one of the weirdest. He still had clear memories of weekday mornings, having to force himself out of bed to get ready for school while his mom nagged at him to hurry up. No matter how many times he'd reassured her that he'd gone through the routine a thousand times and only been late for half, she had never stopped. It had been annoying back then. Now he kind of missed it. Or maybe he just missed her.

Being in her role was more relaxing than she'd made it out to be, though. But it probably helped that Roxas and Xion actually enjoyed going to their tutoring. And it hadn't taken them very long to work out a nag-free routine. He could almost set a clock to it.

Xion, dressed but still with an impressive bed-head, sprinted past him down the hall. Lea caught the lunchboxes she slipped him with practiced ease, and continued on to where he'd last seen Roxas' backpack. When Lea had been a kid, his mom had made sandwiches – cut into triangles at his insistence – and added a packet of chips or something as a snack. Xion, in contrast, never made anything less than a five-star meal. How she had the energy for it first thing in the morning, he would never know (though he suspected Isa helped). Today's looked like some kind of salad Panini with a side of yogurt and a juice box. She'd cut his Panini into triangles. Isa must have blabbed.

Roxas' backpack was exactly where Lea had thought it was: dropped on the floor by the shoe rack in the entryway. Lea picked out his lunchbox from the stack (white, with his name artfully written on the lid in black glitter pen, courtesy of Naminé), and carefully slid it in. He checked to make sure his homework was there too, before he zipped it up and went off to find Isa.

By this time of the morning, Isa was usually deep into the newspaper's job adverts at the dining table. He'd been getting rather pedantic about 'securing a steady source of income', regardless of how many times Lea reassured him that they still had savings, or pointed out that while his own income stream wasn't exactly steady it was still income. Lea was starting to suspect that it might have more to do with Isa trying to revert to some kind of socially expected normalcy than actually being worried about munny, but of course getting him to admit that was like trying to convince Xion that a simple sandwich and a bag of chips was an acceptable lunch.

Isa was not in the kitchen. Lea stood in the doorway, frowning at his empty chair at the table. He was also not in the living room. A peek through the open bathroom door revealed Roxas and Xion squished up at the sink brushing their teeth, but still no Isa.

No one loved routine more than Isa. This was getting unsettling.

It only got more confusing when he _did_ find him: in his room, still in his pyjamas and hair tied back in a messy bun like he hadn't even bothered to brush it yet. Lea knocked on the doorframe with Isa's lunchbox (dark blue with a cartoon wolf that Lea had decided was the only option. Isa did not find it funny).

"Courtesy of the lunch lady," he said.

Isa did not turn away from where he was glaring into the depths of his wardrobe. "Thank you. Just leave it on the desk."

Lea did as asked, sneaking a quick glance inside the wardrobe as he passed behind Isa. All he could see were the expected clothes. And Isa had never been particularly interested in fashion.

"If you're looking for Narnia, you've got the wrong wardrobe," Lea came to stand beside him.

Isa shot him a dry look, but didn't comment.

"Seriously, what's wrong?" It was starting to freak him out.

Isa sighed. "I have a job interview this afternoon."

As far as Lea knew, this was the first response he'd gotten to the endless applications he'd sent in. Everyone wanted university degrees for entry-level positions, as if that somehow trumped actual experience. Experience which Isa had in spades. This should have been something to celebrate. But Isa was acting like he was expecting the interviewers to kill him.

"And that's... bad?"

"No," Isa said, frowning at him like Lea was completely stupid for even suggesting it.

"So why are you having a staring competition with the coat hangers?"

Isa turned back to the wardrobe and glared at it. "...I don't know what to wear."

Come to think of it, this was probably his first job interview _ever_. Isa acted like such a grown-up that it was easy to forget they'd been the same age when they'd lost their hearts, or that they were really only in their twenties _now_. And while sure Saïx had practically run the Organization for years, it was a lot easier to be a manager when you literally didn't have the capacity to care what anyone thought or said to you. Isa was _nervous_.

"This is the first interview I've been given," Isa continued, oblivious to Lea's dawning realisation. "I'm not certain what to expect, and I want to make a good impression."

Lea stepped forward and started rifling through the hangars. He knew the situation was dire when Isa didn't stop him. "What's the job?"

"An office position in Traverse Town," he said. "There's an organization there working to assist displaced individuals in returning to their home worlds. Or choosing new ones, as the case may be."

Sounded like a lot of paperwork. Which meant it would be perfect for him. If they _didn't_ hire him, they'd be crazy.

"How formal are we talking?" Lea asked. "On a scale of one to ten; one being shorts and flip-flops, and ten being three-piece suits."

Isa paused, uncertain. "It's run primarily by moogles."

Who did not, barring a few exceptions, wear clothes. Now he understood the problem. Deciding to err on the side of caution, Lea pulled out a navy long-sleeved button-up, and a pair of dark informal pants.

"Go casual-formal," he dumped them into Isa's arms. "And relax. If anything, you're over qualified."

Isa grimaced. "I hope you're right."

Lea shrugged, tucking his obnoxiously red fire truck lunchbox (chosen lovingly by Roxas and Xion) under his arm as he headed for the door. "You could always come Heartless hunting with me." He'd given up the job search almost as soon as he'd started. No matter how Isa rephrased it, there really weren't many options out there for an ex-assassin. He had to take out a lot of Heartless to get any decent amount of munny, but it also doubled as Keyblade training _and_ it reduced the Heartless threat, so it was a win-win really.

"I'll pass."

Which was more or less exactly what he'd been expecting.

Lea left him to it, stepping down the hall to his own bedroom to grab his bag.

Xion was lacing up her boots when he reached the front door. Her bag was neatly settled against the wall, packed and ready to go. Roxas was nowhere in sight. At least _they_ were still sticking to routine.

"Ready to go?" Lea asked rhetorically. She was always ready first.

Xion nodded as she stood, and brushed her dress free of imaginary dirt.

"I'm here!" Roxas bounded down the stairs, hair still a mess and clothes dishevelled. He forced his shoes on, grabbed his bag, and impatiently declared, "Let's go!" as if he wasn't the one holding Xion up.

Xion opened a corridor to Radiant Garden, and Lea waved them off. And then it was just him.

"Alright," he muttered. "Where to?"

* * *

"I brought an extra yogurt for you," Xion held out the little plastic cup. She'd even remembered to bring a second spoon this time.

Naminé looked up from her container of pasta, as surprised that Xion would want to share food with her as the first time. Her lunches were made by Kairi's parents, and usually consisted of leftovers (reheated with a careful fire spell). And while they always looked amazing, Xion still couldn't resist bringing her 'dessert'. So far Naminé had never refused, and today was no exception.

"Thank you," she smiled, setting it down by her crossed legs.

They were sitting by the fountains again today – Xion's favourite spot. Naminé favoured the courtyard and its flowers, and Roxas really liked the view from the castle steps, so they took it in turns.

They set all the containers out between them. Xion had made Paninis for them today, and had made a point of cutting them into thirds (and giving Roxas' a different filling) so they could all share. Naminé had brought spaghetti, which she dutifully spooned out evenly onto the lids of Xion and Roxas' containers to use as plates.

"We should bring the picnic blanket next time," Roxas suggested. The stone wall wasn't exactly comfortable to lean against, but unlike the steps and the courtyard, there weren't really any places to sit that wouldn't result in them getting sprayed by the fountain.

"Oh, we could make a proper picnic!" Xion added. "And we could invite Ienzo, too." He'd so far politely declined their continued invitations for him to join them for their lunch break – his explanation that they should spend some time together as friends without their teacher hadn't made much sense to her, given that he was their friend too – but there was no way he could refuse a picnic.

"That sounds fun," Naminé smiled around a bite of Panini. "Do you think we could have it on a beach?"

"Yeah!" Roxas agreed.

Xion nodded enthusiastically. "If we have it on the Islands, we could invite Sora, Kairi, and Riku, too." She would just have to make sure she didn't go quite so overboard this time. "The time there is pretty similar to here, right? If we have our lunch break a little later, we could make it work."

"Do we have to invite Riku?"

"Yes."

Roxas pulled a face.

There was a twin trill of gummiphones.

"I just got a message from Aqua," Naminé announced, and when Xion looked to her it was to find her gummiphone resting on her knee. "She wants to know if we want to have a 'girl's night'?"

"What's a girl's night?" Roxas asked, beach picnic entirely forgotten.

Xion shrugged. Her own alert said pretty much the same thing, except with an offer to invite Olette as well.

"Maybe Ienzo will know?" Naminé suggested.

Roxas grabbed his own phone from his bag. "Hang on, I'll ask Axel."

* * *

In hindsight, Agrabah might have been a mistake. He'd chosen it because the heat didn't bother him, and the local Heartless population's reliance on fire magic was to his considerable advantage, but he'd only been here for a few hours and he already had sand where sand had no right to be.

Lea slashed a Scarlet Tango in half with his Keyblade, and when no more Heartless jumped out at him, took a moment to stretch before he'd have to start collecting all the munny they'd dropped. Looking at it, it wasn't much. He'd probably have to stay a good while longer to make the trip worth the effort.

His phone buzzed as he stooped to gather the last few munny, and he lazily snagged it out of his pocket. Maybe he should take a break. So far the locals had given him a wide berth, but no one had tried anything. It probably helped that he was very obviously clearing out the Heartless. That, and he wasn't dressed suspiciously like when he'd come here during his Organization days. They'd probably leave him alone if he found a nice shady corner to sit and eat.

The notification on the phone was a text from Roxas.

_R: What's a girls night?_

"What?" Lea stared at it. Roxas had asked a lot of left-field questions before but this one really took the cake.

_L: Exactly what it sounds like. A night just for girls.  
L: Shouldn't you be in class?_

_R: We're on a lunch break  
R: A night for girls to do what?_

Ah, geez. He was really the wrong guy to be answering this.

_L: Girly things? I dunno, bud, I've never been invited to one. You'll have to ask a girl_

Lea shook his head. There was a nice shady spot between two buildings that would work well. More sand than he'd like, but maybe he could shape it into a seat or something.

His phone buzzed again, but he waited until he was leaning up against a sandstone wall to check it.

_R: Xion and Naminé don't know_

Well that was hardly surprising. Xion and Naminé had as much life experience as Roxas did.

_L: Try Kairi_

_R: Okay  
R: How's your mission?_

It wasn't a mission. They didn't do missions anymore. Although, Lea supposed, it _was_ exactly what Roxas and Xion used to do for missions. The only real differences were that he had no set quota, was collecting munny instead of hearts, and could go wherever he wanted. Still, calling it that made him uncomfortable. It made it sound like he'd fallen back on old routines. Which he sort of had but he didn't really want to acknowledge it.

_L: Slow. I'll probably be late. Isa's got an interview in Traverse Town so you guys'll probably be the first ones home  
L: Tell Xion this Panini is Paninice_

_R: She said 'very punini' I'm blocking you both_

_L:_ _/3 That's pameanie_

* * *

It had been a long time since Isa had been to Traverse Town. He'd been Saïx back then, scouting out which worlds had the most Emblem Heartless to suit their needs in the early days. He'd decided Traverse Town had been too populated and too small to bother with; a decision he might have regretted now, if not for that fact that it only had three districts and therefore was not at all difficult to navigate.

According to the information the moogle had given him on the phone, he was supposed to meet the interviewer in the Second District, at the company's headquarters. He found it easily enough, on the opposite side of the district to the hotel, indicated by a small green sign by the door.

The reception area was more populated than it clearly had the space for. Every chair in the waiting area was filled, with some people being forced to stand against the walls. A harried receptionist offered him a brief smile between breaths as she presumably answered a call through her headset. Isa stood a respectful distance back from the desk and tried not to eavesdrop while he waited.

"Thank you for waiting," she said after nearly a full five minutes. "Do you have an appointment?"

Isa stepped forward. "I have a job interview at three."

"Oh! You must be Isa! I'll let the manager know you're here. Feel free to take a seat." She glanced at the very full waiting area. "...Or a wall."

If he could even find a patch of wall that was vacant. They were clearly understaffed.

He didn't have to wait long. He'd barely gotten comfortable half hiding from the crowd behind a large pot plant before a moogle drifted in through a side door.

"Isa?" they called.

Isa straightened, brushed a hand down his shirt, and stepped forward to greet them.

"Hello. My name is Morris, kupo. I'm the manager here. Thank you for coming in, kupo," the moogle, Morris, said, then gestured back at the door they had emerged through. "Right this way, please, kupo."

"Thank you for the opportunity," Isa replied, and dutifully followed.

The staff area of the building was a long hallway lined with offices. All of them were filled with what looked like clients in consultations. The majority of the staff members appeared to be moogles, but there were a few humans amongst them, too. The humans, Isa was relieved to note, were dressed in casual-formal attire. Lea had been right.

Morris led him to one of the last offices, and had him take a seat in front of the desk. The job, they explained, was fairly simple; it was largely filing, cross-referencing, and general organisation to assist the agency staff, with the potential to later be trained as an agent. All more or less the same as what he did in the Organization (albeit with different intentions), and Morris seemed pleased to hear his confidence.

Isa hadn't really known what to expect from a job interview, but it was rather straightforward. Morris asked him questions ('why do you want to work here?', 'how has your previous work experience prepared you for a position like this?', 'what would you do in this scenario?', 'do you have access to transportation?'), and Isa answered to the best of his ability.

"One last question, kupo," Morris flicked through what Isa identified as a printed version of his resume. "I noticed you did not provide contact information for your previous employer."

Isa repressed a grimace. "It has since been... disbanded. The owner and manager... died. And in terms of hierarchy, I was the next manager down the line." Technically all of the numbers lower than him were higher ranked, but his role in the Organization had put him in a unique position of authority.

"I see, kupo..." Morris cleared their throat awkwardly. "Well then, that concludes the interview. I am very impressed by your resume, kupo. I would like to start you on a two week trial starting tomorrow, kupo."

Isa blinked, surprised. He'd gotten the job? Just like that?

"Thank you," he forced out, the overwhelming combination of relief and shock nearly stealing his ability to talk. "I look forward to working with you."

He made his way back to reception nearly on autopilot. He'd gotten a job. He'd succeeded at his first interview, and now he would be able to stop worrying about their rapidly dwindling savings. He could finally do something useful.

The alleyway in the First District was still deserted when Isa reached it, and he wasted no time opening a corridor directly into the entryway of home.

The first thing he noticed was the silence. Lea was possibly still out, but the children should have been home by now. Perhaps they'd gone out to spend time with their local friends. Isa untied his shoes, and set them neatly on the shoe rack before making his way upstairs to get changed.

He was only just re-emerging from his room when he heard the front door open downstairs.

"He's home," Roxas said quietly. Someone, presumably Xion, shushed him.

Isa stepped out onto the landing. Their attention darted up to him, and Xion quickly hid something behind her back. They were both still carrying their backpacks.

"...Welcome home," Isa said after all they did was stare at each other.

"Axel said you had an interview today. How'd it go?" Roxas asked, toeing off his shoes and kicking them in the general direction of the shoe rack. Xion didn't move. She was very obviously hiding something.

"Fine," Isa eyed them critically. Xion shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny. "Are you alright?"

They ignored the question.

"Did you get the job?" Xion pressed.

Whatever was going on, they didn't want him to know. Normally, Isa would have let it slide, but this was more than just being evasive.

"Not officially. I'll be starting a two week trial tomorrow."

Their faces lit up. "You got the job?!"

"It's just a trial-"

"Isa, that's great!" Xion beamed. "Congratulations!" She awkwardly shimmied her backpack off, leaving it where it landed in the middle of the floor, and lifted a foot. Roxas dutifully yanked off her boots.

"We're gonna go have a snack," Roxas told him, and then the two of them side-stepped out into the kitchen, Xion making sure not to let him see what she was concealing behind her back.

Isa watched them go, uncertain whether he should call her out or not. Well, he supposed, he could use something to eat, himself.

Roxas cut him off in the kitchen doorway, arms outstretched to completely block his way. "You can't come in!"

Isa stared at him, then tried to peer over his shoulder, but Roxas quickly moved in the way.

"Why not?"

"Um..." He visibly floundered for an excuse.

"We're washing the floor!" Xion called from out of view. "There's water everywhere!"

"Yeah."

"I thought you were getting something to eat," Isa countered.

"We were. But then I dropped the orange juice and it spilled everywhere so now we're washing the floor."

"It's a huge mess, Isa!" Xion added. "Better stay out there!"

"Neither of you are good liars," Isa told them, and watched as panic started to settle onto Roxas' face.

The door suddenly slammed in his face, and a second later the familiar shine of a magical seal appeared on the wood. He'd locked it with his Keyblade.

Isa sighed, deciding to have mercy on them if this was the length they were willing to go to. Never mind that he could just go through the other door. "Is it an animal?"

"What?" Roxas' voice was muffled.

"Whatever you're hiding. Is it an animal?"

"No?"

"Is it dangerous, or something I should be worried about?"

"No."

"Alright then," he turned to leave. "I trust you. If you need me I will be in my room."

With one quick pit stop to steal a packet of corn chips from Lea's 'secret' stash. He _was_ hungry.

* * *

Lea's return home was often heralded by excited chattering from the children. Today was no exception, but as Isa set aside the book he'd been reading, he couldn't help but notice that this time it wasn't the positive sort of excitement.

"Axel, what happened?!" he heard Xion cry, followed quickly by Roxas', " _Cure!"_

Isa was downstairs in seconds.

Lea had corridored directly into the living room this time, and was lying face-down on the couch, shoes still on and backpack sliding off one shoulder. His clothes were singed.

"I'm fine, relax," Lea waved flippantly at Roxas and Xion's distraught faces. Although he couldn't see them; his face was still pressed into the cushions. Not believing him in the slightest, they turned to Isa.

Isa wasn't sure what expression he was making, but from their faces it wasn't a reassuring one.

"Lea," Isa crouched beside the couch. There were no obvious wounds – either he'd already healed them before he got home, or Roxas' cure spell had taken care of them. "What _happened_?"

Lea turned to look at him, and his easy smile quickly morphed into guilt when he caught sight of them all. He pushed himself upright, leaning back against the couch. "I promise I'm fine, okay?" he said, holding his arms out so they could see for themselves that there wasn't a scratch on him. Isa wasn't convinced. "Just an unexpected boss. It was stronger than it looked."

Xion pulled at the blackened edges of his shirt. "Your clothes are burnt."

"Only my clothes," he promised. "Fire's my thing, remember?"

Xion pulled a face, and Lea opened his arms so the kids could clamber up beside him. When Isa didn't join them, Lea nudged him with his shoe.

"I'm okay, Isa. Takes a lot more than a Volcanic Lord to take me down."

He knew that. Saïx had sent Axel up against far stronger Heartless plenty of times. But that didn't stop the anxiety.

"So, hey, how was the interview? Bet they hired you on the spot, right?"

It was a genuine question, but Isa knew a diversion when he saw one.

"He got the job," Roxas told him.

"It's a trial period," Isa reiterated, but Lea was about as interested in the semantics of it as the children were.

"Told you!" Lea grinned. "They'd be stupid not to."

"Oh!" Xion gasped, and dove off the couch to sprint into the kitchen.

Lea patted the spot she'd vacated, and Isa let himself be enticed into sitting down. Xion returned at a far more sedate pace, hands once again concealed behind her back. She exchanged a glance with Roxas, who nodded. Lea raised a brow at them.

"What'cha got there, Xion?"

She stopped in front of the couch, then thrust a white box at Isa. "This is for you."

Isa glanced at Lea, but when he only received a confused shrug, slowly accepted it from her. On closer inspection, it had the Bistro's logo on the lid.

Inside was a cake, covered in white icing and a ring of fruit around the edge. In the middle, piped on with an unsure hand, were the words 'Congratulations Isa!'. It looked like Xion's handwriting. She'd probably been writing it when they'd locked him out of the kitchen.

"Axel told us about your interview at lunchtime," Xion fidgeted when he didn't say anything. "I wanted to bake you one, but I didn't have enough time."

"This is what you were hiding?"

Lea looked between them. "Hiding?"

"They locked me out of the kitchen."

"She wanted it to be a surprise," Roxas said indignantly.

"Aww, Xion you're gonna give him a cavity."

"What's a cavity?"

"Thank you," Isa managed. "You didn't have to get me anything."

"I wanted to," Xion said. "You deserve it. You've been working really hard to get a job."

He didn't deserve this. Didn't deserve so much kindness from people he'd hurt so badly. Getting a job was the bare minimum he could have done to start making up for it. He didn't deserve to be rewarded for it.

But looking at Xion and her earnest face, he couldn't bring himself to admit any of it, though he suspected Lea knew without him needing to say anything. Lea had always been able to read him. Even Roxas, who had made no secret about not liking him from the beginning, was smiling at him now, even if it was small.

"Thank you," Isa said. It didn't adequately sum up what he wanted to say, but then words rarely could.

* * *

Traverse Town ran a good few hours behind Twilight Town. Unfortunately this meant that if Isa wanted to be at work on time, he had to head out before anyone else was even awake yet. On the plus side, though, he would always be home by the time the rest of them were. Lea wasn't sure how he would have coped if it had been a nightshift, and they'd only been able to catch glimpses of him at breakfast and just before they went to bed.

But there was no point dwelling on what could've been. As it was, Isa's first shift finished just after lunch, which meant Lea had no trouble at all stealing Roxas and Xion from tutoring for 'just half an hour, I promise'.

He was alone when Isa finally emerged from the building though.

"Hey, Isa," Lea called when Isa, not having seen him, kept walking. "How's it feel to be a Certified Adult?"

Isa spun around, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Came to pick you up." Lea pushed off against the wall.

"It's not necessary."

Lea crossed his arms. "Let me guess, you were just gonna head straight home, right?" He didn't wait for Isa to respond, already knowing the answer. With a flick of his wrist, he opened a corridor. "Come on."

Lea had really missed the clock tower. It felt like it had been ages since he'd been up there, and even longer since he'd been up there with anybody. He flopped down in his usual spot, and, bemused, Isa sat to his right.

It wasn't sunset yet, but in Twilight Town it didn't really matter.

"What are we doing here?" Isa asked after a long moment.

A very familiar, bright blue ice cream appeared right in his face.

"The icing on the cake," Xion said, leaning over them. When he took it, she offered one to Lea as well. Relieved of her burden, she shuffled backwards to sit against the side of the tower, as far from the edge as she could get.

Lea didn't question it, and instead pivoted in his seat to look for Roxas. He was standing at the corner, not really with them but not _not_ with them, either. His hands were clenched into fists, and even from where he was sitting, Lea could see that he was shaking, but there was a determined set to his jaw that Lea knew meant that no matter how stressed out he got he wasn't going to leave until he'd seen it through. Neither he nor Xion had ice creams.

"Icing on the cake?" Isa echoed, and while he too noted the kids' weird behaviour, he didn't say anything about it.

"It's tradition," Roxas bit out, staring resolutely at the view of Twilight Town.

"I brought Roxas here after his first mission for ice cream," Lea explained. "And then Rox brought Xion here after hers. Your first day of work counts too, as far as we're concerned."

Isa didn't say anything. But he didn't need to. He took a bite from his ice cream, and some of the tension eased. Still, it didn't come as a surprise when less than a minute later, Roxas announced,

"We need to get back to Radiant Garden."

They still had a good fifteen minutes left of Lea's promised half an hour, but Xion didn't protest, jumping up from her spot immediately.

"We'll see you later," she waved, and then the two of them were gone.

Lea and Isa watched them go.

"Are you convinced yet?" Lea asked, returning to the view.

"Of what?"

"That you're part of this family." Lea nodded in the direction Roxas and Xion had gone. "This was their idea." Whatever had stopped them coming back up here before now was obviously still bothering them, but they were nothing if not stubborn.

Isa looked to him sharply.

"Don't look at me like that, Isa. Xion practically hangs off you now. And Roxas definitely likes you, even if he won't admit it." They might not love him like they loved Lea yet, but it was only a matter of time. As far as Lea was concerned, their insistence on doing this only confirmed it. Nothing said 'I love you' like doing something for someone even if it hurt you, just because you wanted to show that you cared.

"I like them, too," Isa confessed quietly, staring contemplatively at his ice cream. "I wasn't sure I would, but I do."

Lea laughed. "Yeah. They have a way of worming their way into your heart, huh?" Even when you didn't think you had one.

Isa hummed in a way that could have been affirmation or denial, and took another bite of his ice cream.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Are you kids ready for some PAIN?

Lea spun his Keyblade around in his right hand. The Shadow lunged, but a single swipe was all it took to wipe it out. He kept up the momentum, letting it pivot him around in time to block the incoming attack from the Powerwild behind him. More Shadows flocked to him, and as he went for the one directly in front of him, he raised his left hand to defend against the ones to the side.

Sharp claws raked at his arm, and he jumped back out of range with a hiss. It wasn't a deep wound – just a light scratch, really – but it stung. A muttered cure spell took care of it, and, with a huff, Lea shifted back into a ready stance. The Heartless were coming for round two.

Even after all this time, he was still fighting like he was using Eternal Flames. They'd been his weapon of choice for a decade, and he'd well and truly gotten into the habit of dual wielding. If he let himself slip into the flow of battle, he forgot that he wasn't using them anymore. He only had one Keyblade. He had to remember that.

Two days ago he'd gotten so fed up with the Volcanic Lord and his own falling back on old habits that he'd eventually given in, and just switched out for Eternal Flames. It was so much easier, his body's muscle memory perfect after years of practice. But he'd bullied his way into getting a Keyblade for a reason. And Lea was a lot of things but a quitter wasn't one of them.

It took far more concentration than he would have liked to wipe out the remaining Heartless, but he did it all with Flame Liberator. At least his clothes hadn't gotten damaged this time.

He turned back towards the town wall, ready to call it a day despite his meagre pickings, and froze when he spotted Roxas watching him from the path.

"How long have you been standing there?" he asked, suddenly inexplicably self-conscious. Roxas wasn't going to judge him for shoddy fighting form. Not when he knew how new Lea was to it.

"A few minutes," Roxas confessed. Then, pre-empting his next question, "Isa said you stayed here today, and Xion's at that girls night thing, so I came looking for you." He gave Lea a quick once-over, and a small frown settled on his face. "You're using the Keyblade like it's your chakrams. You end up leaving yourself open on your left side."

"Yeah, I know," Lea sagged. "It was a lot easier to practice when I was working with Kairi." She never failed to seize any opportunity to get a hit in on him, but she held back enough that all he got for it was a bruise and a sassy comment about his age.

Roxas shifted awkwardly. "Did you... want to spar?"

Lea's attention snapped back to him. Now _there_ was an offer he had not been expecting. He'd fought alongside Roxas enough to know how to work with him in battle, but none of the Organization's members had ever bothered to train together. That was usually left to the Heartless, or, on the odd occasion, the Dusks when Saïx put them up to an endurance test. Maybe it would be good, to go up against someone he wasn't used to fighting.

"Do _you_ want to?" he asked anyway. Roxas was damn good with one Keyblade, let alone two, but he'd never really cared about it the same way Xion had, or Sora, for that matter. Or even Lea himself. He still used it, when necessary, but so far he'd shown no interest in further training.

"If it'll help," Roxas shrugged.

"Okay." It was worth a shot. Roxas would likely pull his punches more than Kairi did, too. But there was probably no escaping the sassy comments.

The nearest open space that wasn't the area outside the mansion was in the tunnels, so in unspoken agreement they followed the path through the woods towards it. Once they'd reached the area where the moaning air vent had been, Roxas took up position by the far wall, and summoned Oathkeeper in his right hand. Strong magic, lesser attack. Definitely intending to pull his punches. Lea stood across from him, and gave his own Keyblade a twirl that was more instinctive than conscious.

"Ready?" Roxas asked, shifting into an attack stance that Lea hadn't seen him use in a long time.

"Ready."

They ran forward at the same time, Keyblades raised to clash.

_"Don't hold back, Axel. Promise."_

_"Axel."_

_"I'm so FLATTERED!"_

Lea threw himself to the side at the last second, Flame Liberator bouncing across the ground as he lost his grip. Roxas, who had dismissed Oathkeeper at that exact same moment, remained where he'd dropped his knees.

Lea pushed himself back up on shaking arms. He couldn't do it. Even knowing it was just a friendly practice session, he couldn't stop seeing Xion, couldn't stop remembering Roxas' face when he and Axel had clashed for the last time.

"I can't do it," Roxas' voice shook as badly as the rest of him. "I can't- I wanted-"

Tears Lea hadn't even realised he'd been shedding dropped down to soak into the knees of his pants.

Roxas looked up at him, eyes wet, and his face crumpled. "I'm sorry, I can't-"

Lea pushed off the ground to half crawl, half stagger over to him. They collapsed into each other, and Lea couldn't say who held on tighter.

"It's okay," he promised, although who it was for he didn't know. "It's okay. We're okay."

Unnoticed, Flame Liberator dissipated into flames.

"I think," Lea managed after a long moment, "we should never do this again."

Roxas huffed a laugh. "Agreed," he said into Lea's shoulder. "Can we go home?"

"Wanna watch a movie and eat an entire bag of gummi worms?"

"Yeah."

* * *

Lea opened his eyes to the pervasive feeling of being watched. He peeked out of the blanket cocoon he and Roxas had formed on the couch, and up at Isa standing behind them. Isa stared at him in silence for a long moment, then to Roxas (asleep), the empty packet of gummi worms between them, and the end scene of The Aristocats playing on the TV.

"What happened?"

Lea let his eyes slip closed again. "The usual. Bad decisions."

Isa hummed, and then his footsteps retreated from the room. His presence was announced a minute later by the quiet sound of a glass being set down on the coffee table. Lea blinked up at him in time to find a second one being held out to him.

"I assume neither of you have had anything to drink?"

Honestly, they'd just gone straight for the gummi worms. Lea accepted the water with a quiet thanks, and downed it in one go.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Isa asked, taking back the glass so Lea wouldn't disturb Roxas.

"Eh," Lea let his head fall back against the couch. "I'm having trouble adapting to a one-handed weapon. Keep trying to block with an empty hand. So we tried to spar." He grimaced. "Let's just say we won't be trying again."

Isa frowned at him. "Why not simply use two, then?"

"Cause I worked my butt off to get this Keyblade?"

"Use the Keyblade, and one of your chakrams," Isa clarified. "Would that not solve the issue?"

Lea gaped at him. "I can _do_ that?"

Isa gave him a look as if to say ' _Why wouldn't you?_ '

Well damn. He wished he'd thought of that earlier.

He still really wanted to be able to wield the stupid oversized key the way the others did, though. Maybe he'd have to ask Kairi about more training. Or maybe he could convince Aqua to take him on as a student. She was a master, right?

For now, though, he was going to sit right there and have a nap. Carefully extricating his Roxas-free arm, he peeled open the blanket in gesture for Isa to join them. Isa heaved a frankly uncalled for sigh, and allowed himself to be enveloped in the cocoon. Lea shifted to rest his head on Isa's shoulder, a smile stretching across his face.

_Told you we'd get you._


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And something fun to round us off

"What about dessert?" Aqua asked as they stepped through the large front entrance of the castle in the Land of Departure. They'd gone out to eat at a restaurant called Tiana's Place for dinner almost as soon as everyone had arrived, thanks to Kairi's borrowed gummiship. When the offer was met with unanimous agreement, she led the way to the kitchen, and pulled the big recipe book out from its cupboard. It had been sitting there for a long time, untouched, and she had to blow a fair amount of dust off the cover.

The girls crowded around as she set it down on the counter. Xion eagerly began flicking through the pages.

"Something with chocolate," Kairi voted.

"We can make more than one thing," Aqua reassured her. They had more than enough ingredients on hand, and it wouldn't be hard to go and get more.

"There's something called a chocolate mug brownie?" Xion swivelled the book around for Kairi to see. There were a few chocolate stains on the page.

Nostalgia hit Aqua like a train. When they'd been younger, she and Terra had often snuck out of bed in the middle of the night, looking for snacks. They'd decided on mug brownies so many times that it almost became a tradition. Somehow Master Eraqus had always known. He'd come down to chastise them, only not because they'd broken their bedtime, but because they hadn't made one for him, too. Eventually they'd started pre-emptively making three.

She smiled fondly at the memory. It had been a long time since they'd done that. Not since before Ven came to stay with them. They'd had to set a good example for him, which meant no more midnight mug brownies. She still missed it sometimes.

"What about a cake?" Olette asked.

Kairi flipped a few more pages. "Chocolate mudcake?"

Aqua stuck a wooden spoon between the pages to mark it, and then scanned through the next chapter until she found what she was looking for.

" _I_ would like the strawberry tart, if anyone wants to share it with me?"

Naminé shyly raised her hand. "That sounds nice."

"So we've got chocolate mudcake, strawberry tart," Kairi copied Aqua's lead and marked the page, this time with a whisk. "Xion, did you want something different?"

Xion took back the book, her expression growing more and more daunted the more recipes she found. "They all look so good," she lamented.

"You're welcome to borrow the book, if you want," Aqua told her. It wasn't like it got used a whole lot here. And she could always just have Xion send her a photo if there was something in particular she wanted to make while she didn't have it.

"Really?!"

"Sure, just make sure you take care of it, okay?"

"Okay!"

In the end, Xion decided to just wait until both desserts were done, and then choose the one she wanted then. Aqua flipped back to the cake recipe, and then went rummaging for the mixing bowl.

"Might as well start with the one that takes longer," she said.

* * *

"Xion, truth or dare?"

Xion hesitated, unsure which option was better. She'd been a little confused, when Aqua had first suggested it and explained the rules, but it had quickly become apparent that it wasn't quite what she'd expected. Olette had chosen truth, and Kairi had made her tell them the most embarrassing thing that had ever happened to her (the time her pants had caught in the tram door, and she'd gone halfway across town with a hole in the back before Seifer told her). Kairi had chosen dare, and Aqua had sent her off to steal the left half of every pair of shoes Terra owned, including the one he was wearing (she'd managed it, but refused to tell them how).

"...Dare," she decided. That seemed like the safer option, in terms of embarrassment.

Olette tapped her chin in thought for a long moment. "I dare you... to only speak in rhyme for the rest of the night."

Oh, dare had definitely been a mistake.

Xion turned to Naminé, on her left, and spent an agonising amount of time trying to work out how to phrase it. "I don't think this is fair? Naminé, truth or dare?"

Olette applauded.

* * *

"Okay, I see them," Kairi whispered. "What's the plan?"

"Xion should distract him," Aqua said. "The rest of us will sneak up behind them."

Xion sighed.

They watched in anticipation as she stepped out to where Terra, Ven, and Chirithy were watching a movie. All three of them turned to her as she approached.

"Hey, Xion," Ven said. "What's up?"

Xion rocked from foot to foot, struggling to come up with something to say. "You're watching a movie," she started painfully. "Is it... um... groovy?"

Terra glanced at the screen. It was The Emperor's New Groove. "Nice pun."

Kairi quickly darted out to take cover behind a bookshelf. Olette was close behind.

"Is everything okay?" Ven asked. He glanced briefly over his shoulder, and the girls quickly ducked out of view. "Where are the others?"

"They're... in Aqua's room. I'm... getting a broom?"

They eyed her for a long moment. Kairi took the opportunity to drag Olette behind the couch. Now came the hard part.

"Did something happen?"

"No, everything's fine," Xion quickly said. "It's... for... a porcupine?" She winced. They stared a little more.

"Did they make you talk in rhyme?" Terra asked sympathetically.

Xion nodded sadly.

"Truth or dare is a merciless game," he sighed. "One time Master Eraqus made me put both my legs in one pant leg and then do a lap around the training ground."

" _You_ made me walk on my hands for an hour," Ven grumbled.

"You picked dare!"

"We _always_ picked dare! I don't know why we even bothered using the 'truth or' part."

Chirithy was perched on the armrest. Kairi and Olette reached up, Olette mouthing a countdown from 3. On 0, they both snagged them, Kairi around the waist, and Olette covering their mouth. Xion's attention darted to them and then back to the boys.

Terra shifted a little further away from Ven, and patted the empty space. "You're welcome to come join us if you need a break. We won't tell on you if you stop rhyming."

"Thanks, but no." Xion started edging back towards the door just as Kairi and Olette disappeared around the corner. "I've really got to go."

They were already booking it down the hallway by the time they heard Ven say,

"Hey, where's Chirithy?"

* * *

It felt like he'd searched the whole castle by the time he found Chirithy in one of the unused studies. They were standing on the desk, with bits of fabric pinned haphazardly in place, and a befuddled frown on their face. The girls were scattered around the room, deep in discussion.

"What's going on?" Ven asked slowly.

Chirithy lit up at the sight of him, jumping down to race across the room and hide behind his legs. Kairi yelled about pins and _stop moving_.

"I was kidnapped," Chirithy cried. "For _dress-up_."

Ven turned to the girls questioningly, and Naminé held up her drawing pad. It was open to a picture of Chirithy dressed in a little pink dress. It was _adorable._

"Only problem is, none of us have ever made a dress before," Olette sighed.

Ven lit up. "I know how to make a dress!"

"Oh no," Chirithy bemoaned.

"What?" Aqua frowned. "How?"

Ven shrugged. "Mice taught me."

* * *

As the night wore on, and some of them started yawning, they settled down in the comfiest lounge, and built a fort out of every blanket Aqua could find, and all of the chairs from the dining room. They'd taken a vote on the movie (Shrek, unanimously), and then, in their pyjamas, piled together on their mountain of cushions.

As Aqua hit play on the remote, Naminé, head resting on Kairi's shoulder and Xion's legs draped across her lap, strongly suspected they wouldn't be using the guest rooms they'd been offered when they'd arrived.

But that was fine. She couldn't remember ever being so comfortable.

* * *

Aqua quietly padded her way into the kitchen. She didn't regret the games with the girls – not by a long shot – but they'd reminded her sorely of when she'd been their age, and it had just been her, Terra, and the Master. She'd never had a girls' night, or even any real female friends to speak of, so she'd ended up suggesting things that the three of them had done together (then the four of them, when Ven had come to live with them). Now, some unknown time past midnight, she still couldn't sleep for the memories.

She made a beeline for the fridge. It had been a long time since she'd felt the desire for a midnight snack, but there was one final slice of chocolate mudcake in there with her name on it. The fridge light lit up half the kitchen, including the frozen form of Terra, one hand still reaching for a mug in the top cupboard, staring at her like a toddler caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

Aqua startled badly, nearly crashing into the fridge. "Terra!"

"Hello," Terra said with no small amount of guilt. He brought his hand down to cradle a mug against his chest. It was the one with that had 'tears of my students' written on it. Master Eraqus' favourite. She and Terra had saved up their pocket money for weeks to buy it. "I thought you were asleep."

"Why are you down here in the dark?"

"I didn't want to wake you."

Aqua reached out and flicked on the light. "Terra, the kitchen is so far away from the lounge room that you could scream in here and we wouldn't hear you."

"Oh. That's good, cause I stubbed my toe earlier." He was still only wearing one shoe.

Aqua resisted the urge to sigh, but only just. She turned her attention to the mug. Terra followed her gaze.

"...Wanna make mug brownies?"

Aqua let the fridge door swing closed. She was too old now to sneak out in the middle of the night to make mug brownies. "Yes."

She still remembered how to make them. Terra did too – not once even looking at where the recipe book still sat on the end of the counter where they'd left it earlier. They danced around each other, Aqua adding the flour, Terra the eggs. Back and forth like they'd never stopped doing it.

Ten minutes saw three mug brownies lined up in front of them, each topped with an obscene amount of whipped cream.

"We made too many," Aqua said. No matter how much she wished for it, Master Eraqus wasn't going to catch them this time.

"No we didn't," Terra grabbed two of the mugs, leaving the Master's favourite for her. "Come on."

Aqua hesitated a beat, before gently cradling the third mug and the spoons, and following after him. It didn't take her long to figure out where they were going.

"Wait," she said as they reached the door. "Don't wake him."

"He's slept long enough that he can spare a few minutes for tradition, don't you think?" Terra countered, and let himself in. "What would the Master say, if he knew Ven was sleeping through a mug brownie?"

Probably that he was a model student and they should follow his example, Aqua thought. But she didn't stop him when he reached up to poke the lump in the blankets with his shoeless foot.

"Hey, Ven."

Chirithy's round head poked up to blink blearily at them. "It's the middle of the night," they said groggily.

"Huh? Wha?" Ven twisted his head towards them.

Terra placed one of the mugs on his forehead.

A hand reached up to grab it. "What's this?"

"Mug brownie," Terra told him, taking a seat on the desk chair. He glanced pointedly at Aqua, and, taking the hint, she went to perch on the edge of Ven's bed. She handed out the spoons, and watched Terra immediately eat all of his cream.

"It's the middle of the night?" Ven croaked, but he was already sitting up, and looking down at his mug in interest.

"Duh, what other time would you eat a mug brownie?"

Aqua stared at the Master's mug, uncertain whether or not she could eat the one they'd made for him. But when she really thought about it, the idea of this mug sitting up in the cupboard forever, never to be used again, was worse than someone other than him using it.

And, as she dared to take the first bite, it somehow made it feel like he was there with them, too.

"During the day?" Ven suggested.

Aqua smiled around a spoonful of chocolate and whipped cream. "Don't be silly, Ven."


End file.
